Pages

Reflections | Tata Madiba (aka Nelson Mandela)

On a day like this, I wanted to dedicate my blog to a great leader that inspires me and has had a great impact on my life and childhood. I will celebrate the life of a forever legacy Tata Madiba Nelson Mandela. I had the privilege and honor of living under this great first black South African President.

My family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa in 1990 just as Apartheid ended and Mandela's release from prison after 27 years. I experienced first hand the freedom, the hope, the unity that Mandela embodied and inspired his countrymen to be in the everyday with our neighbors as we moved into the new suburban neighborhoods and in my primary (elementary) school with teachers, and students as the it slowly transitioned to a more diverse student body. His efforts for equality, peace, capacity for forgiveness had an immediate impact South Africans and people everywhere. I mostly remember South Africa through the songs we sang like the South African National Anthem, "Nkosi Sikeleli iAfrika" and "South Africa, we love you... our Beautiful Land" and the friends I made, the games we used to play, the lessons we learned about the creation of the new Modern South Africa and what it means and how it all unites us. For this reason, I owe my childhood to Tata Madiba and my heart will always belong to South Africa and the man who will forever be my hero and inspire me to live a life on purpose, servitude, humbleness and vulnerability.

Here's a Nelson Mandela's quote that inspires me and proves that nothing is impossible when you do greater for the lives of others and generations to follow.

Thank you for your devotion to freedom, equality, and unity for all
South Africans and the world. We all love and will miss you forever.
Your Spirit and Legacy will live forever in me because you lived.